Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Black Eyed Pea Soup

Hello.... I hope you are having a great Tuesday! Last night for dinner was a big bowl of hot comforting soup. This was one of those times where I found a recipe that I wanted to try, but ended up not having half the ingredients that I needed to make it. At that time, I decided to wing it and do my own thing! I remembered to write down all the ingredients as I went along and even measured everything this time. :o) I'm so glad I did, because I plan on making this soup alot more!

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, and scallion. Saute for about 5 minutes and then add the kale and saute for about 5 more minutes.Add the vegetable broth, peas, and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add the macaroni, garam masala, salt and pepper. Mix well and simmer for 30-45 minutes. Simple and yummy!

Some of you may be wondering about the addition of the scallion. Well, my husband made himself some hamburger patties, to which he added some minced scallion. He ended up having some left over and thought my soup needed it. He gladly tossed his leftovers into my pot as I was sauteing the veggies. :o)

The next time I make this soup, I think I will add more kale...maybe 2 cups. One cup was all I had in the refrigerator and it was on the verge of ruining, so I decided to use it in the soup. I'm really digging the kale! Oh...what's that...you are asking if Tony ate any of the soup? That would be a "NO", only because it had "green stuff" (kale) in it. LOL

We also tried our hand at cooking some hash browns in the waffle maker. They didn't turn out so hot. :-( The potatoes were so full of starch that they were mushy. Don't get me wrong, the hashbrowns still tasted good, but they didn't turn out how we wanted. The next time I am going to soak the grated potatoes in cold water to get some of the starch out. Maybe that will help them to crisp up more? I was hoping they would turn out like this. A while back Rose told me about these, and I've been wanting to try them ever since. Maybe they will turn out better the next time....practice makes perfect....right?

Oh! I wanted to mention to you that I'd be happy to send you a pair of socks for Maggie to try out, if you think they'd fit. She looks a bit smaller than Rowan, so I think they would. We have 3 pairs of the too-small ones and I'd love for them to get some use other than putting them on Emma at bedtime. :) If you want, contact me through Facebook or you can email me at vegandogslife at charter dot net.

That soup sounds the absolute business...I love pasta in stews or soups. Too bad Tony is green-phobic...I bet he'd like it if he tasted it.

Sorry the hash brown waffles didn't work...I don't have a waffle maker, so I couldn't try them myself, but they did look good in Cooking in Color's post didn't they?

I think soaking the grated potato will help it work, especially if wring the potatoes out really well afterwards, but I couldn't say for sure...maybe she added some flour to them...I noted she doesn't give her method in the post.

I agree with everyone else about the macaroni! Interesting addition! And kale, as with all greens, always cooks down so much it disappoints me.PS - I can't figure out how to find your email address! E-mail me (antimaud at hotmail dot com) and I'll send you the Thin Mints recipe. Tony won't be able to turn those down!

Oh hash browns! I wish someone would make me a big bowl of them right now! Your soup looks delish! I've been trying to lay off noodles b/c i've been OD-ing hard core. They are all I want!!!! (ok ok hashbrowns too! hehe)